Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
A wireless device may be associated with a public land mobile network (PLMN) and may be configured to prefer an association with a home PLMN (HPLMN) that holds or maintains a profile of the subscriber associated with the wireless device. When the wireless device is unable to communicate with the HPLMN, the wireless device may be said to be roaming and may connect to a visited PLMN (VPLMN). The wireless device may also enter an out of service (OOS) mode if neither a HPLMN nor a VPLMN is available. While roaming or OOS, the wireless device may periodically perform a search for the HPLMN.
As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continue to advance the UMTS technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.